© Michael C. Rawlins Is XML Ready for Prime Time? When to use XML for Electronic Transactions for Your Business Michael C. Rawlins Rawlins EC Consulting.

© Michael C. Rawlins

Is XML Ready for Prime Time?

When to use XML for Electronic Transactions for Your Business

Michael C. Rawlins

Rawlins EC Consulting

© Michael C. Rawlins

Overview

• Organization types

• Factors– Standards– Tools– Complexity

• Conclusions

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Organization Types

• Early Adopters

• Second Wave

• Mainstream

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Early Adopters

• Large to medium enterprises

• XML programmers on staff

• High risk tolerance

• New applications

• Small trading communities

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Second Wave

• Primarily large to medium enterprises, but some small

• Hubs and first tier suppliers

• Programmers or technical support on staff

• Moderate risk tolerance

• New and existing applications

• Moderate size trading communities

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Mainstream

• All sizes, including small enterprises

• Small or nonexistent technical staff

• Low risk tolerance

• Core applications

• Large trading communities

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Factors

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Factors

• Why XML?• Base XML Specifications• XML Tools• XML Business Standards• Application Support• On-line Marketplaces• Complexity• Market Timing

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Why: One Source, Many Uses

XMLDocument

XSLStylesheet

XSLStylesheet

DTD

PrintedDocument

WebPage

BusinessApplication

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XML Selling Points

• Separate content from presentation

• Applicable to many types of problems

• Generic tools

• Simplicity

• SME penetration

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XML : A Family of Specifications

• XML 1.0 - Feb 1998– Base language– Document Type Definition (DTD)

• XSLT for Transformations - 11/1999• XHTML 1.0 - HTML in XML - 1/2000• XSL for Display - In Progress• Schema for Data Definition - In Progress• Several Others

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XML Tools

• Browsers– IE 5 implements draft XSL– Netscape 6.0 pre-release uses CSS with XML

• Parsers and Utilities– Microsoft, Sun, IBM, many others

• Authoring Tools - few mainstream

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XML Specifications and Tools Impact

• Specifications not yet mature

• Tools depend on specifications

• Application developers depend on tools

• Conclusion:– Early adopters only– Not ready for mainstream or second wave

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Factors: Business Standards for XML

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Why Business Standards?

1) <BUYER_NAME> JOHN SMITH </BUYER_NAME>

2) <BUYER_NAME>

<LAST> SMITH </LAST>

<FIRST> JOHN </FIRST>

</BUYER_NAME>

3) <NAME type=”BUYER">

<SURNAME BSR_CODE=”NAM-01"> SMITH </SURNAME>

<GIVEN BSR_CODE=”NAM-01"> JOHN </GIVEN>

</NAME>

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Business Standards for using XML

• Frameworks– ebXML– BizTalk

• Cross Industry– No voluntary standards (X12, EDIFACT) yet– Proprietary - cXML, xCBL

• Many Vertical Industries

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Application Support for Business Standards

• Ideally built-in, off-the-shelf

• Currently limited to:– Proprietary approaches– Vertical industry standards

• Impact: Necessary for second wave and mainstream

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Factors: On-line Marketplaces

• Will impact bilateral exchanges• No common business or technology profiles• Issues:

– Viability of ASP outsourcing– Business models– Cut out the middleman?

• Kill “rip & read” EDI• Delay XML adoption?

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Factors: Complexity

XML Internet

E-mail or HTTP

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Complexity

XML

InternetXSL

XSLT

Schemas

Xpath

XLink

E-mail HTTP FTP

Security

Packaging

Internal RoutingUML

Meta-model

Core Components

Business Schema

BP Model

Registry & Repository

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XML Implementation: Naïve

BusinessApplication

Sender Receiver

BusinessApplication

Internet

XML XML

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XML Implementation: Realistic

BusinessApplication

Sender Receiver

BusinessApplication

Internet

XML XML

Management, Transformation,

Messaging XML

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Systems Complexity over Time

Time

Complexity

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Complexity of a Single Technology vs. Adoption

Complexity

Adoption

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Factors: Market Timing

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OSI: The Apocalypse of the Two Elephants

Time

Activity

Research

Standards

Billion dollar investments

Source: Dr. David Clark, head of Advanced Network Architecture research group, MIT’s Laboratory for Computer Science

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Elephants & XML Business Standards

Time

Activity

Foundation XML Specifications

XML business standards

Billion dollar investments

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Elephants & XML?

Time

Activity

B2B over the Internet

XML

Billion dollar investments

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Conclusions

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Effects on EDI Implementations

• Early Adopters– Phase out EDI

• Second Wave– Keep existing EDI– Few new applications

• Mainstream– Kill rip & read EDI

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Near Term Strategies

• Procurement - Prepare for migration to Marketplaces

• Other Applications– Retain existing EDI– 3 - 5 year ROI probably OK

• Experiment with XML

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Summary by Organization Type

• Early Adopters– Ready for Prime Time

• Go Forth and XML!

• Second Wave– Keep them on Saturday Night

• Wait for standards and major trading partners

• Mainstream– Cable Community Access Channel

• Wait for shrink-wrapped XML support

© Michael C. Rawlins

For More Information

Mike Rawlins, Rawlins EC Consulting

• [email protected]

• www.metronet.com/~rawlins– “XML” and “Emerging Approaches” pages